The Situation of Homosexuality in Greece; A Brief Survey

The following questionaire was issued by the ILGA and was forwarded on several mailing lists,
in May 1996. The questionaire was prompted to request and gather information in order to be
included in the forthcoming update of the "Pink Book". (The ILGA Pink Book is a
country-by-country survey of the situation of homosexuals around the world).

The answers for the part concerning Greece, were provided (on June 10 1996) by the
"Cooperation to Fight Homophobia", who kindly responded to the request
for filling up the questionaire for RozMov.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT THE SITUATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN GREECE:
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.: Are homosexual relationships officially recognised? No
________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.: A) What is the legal status of sexual contacts between men? Legal
________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) What is the legal status of sexual contacts between women? Legal
________________________________________________________________________________________________
C) Is there a law governing homosexuality or are there other
existing laws (such as public morality laws) that regulate
homosexuality? No
Article(s), content(s), penalty(ies): article 347 of the penal law
(19th chapter of the "crimes
against the sexual freedom
and the financial exploration
of the sexual life". It speaks
about "debauchery":
a) embezzle of dependence
relationship,
b)age of 17 years for men
and c) speculation (prostitution)).
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
D) Is there an age of consent for sexual contacts? Yes
Is it the same for homosexuals as for heterosexuals? No (see 2C)
the age of consent is: for:
homo male 17
homo female 15
hetero male 16
hetero female 15
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
E) What is the extent of enforcement of the existing laws?
a) against men prostitution (there are testimonies
of police officers on TV)
b) for under aged persons few
________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.: A) Are there any organisations of homosexuals in the country? Yes
If yes, what kind are they:
*in two cities
*homo/lesbian/bisexual
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) Is there any gay/lesbian press? No
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
C) Are there any other gay/lesbian services? Yes
*If yes, what kind of? SOS-telephone,
homo-library
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.: A) Does anti-discrimination legislation exist in your country? Yes
Do provinces, states, major cities have such protection? Yes
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) Are violations of human rights of homosexuals recorded? Yes
If you happen to know of any recent violations,
please write them down:
discrimination in the work,
in hotels again tourists,
in TV
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.: A) Is same-sex partnership registration possible? No
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) Do homosexuals have access to the military? Yes
but the military don't ask
the soldiers if they are
homosexual, usually the
officers don't like
to know about it because
in this case they have to
do something. It is not
known what happens with
the gay/lesbian officers!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
C) Is asylum possible for those facing persecution
on grounds of sexuality? A case like that
is not known.
D) Do homosexual couples have the same rights as
heterosexual couples in the following areas? They are not registered at
all, so they don't exist.
*Pensions? No
*Adoption? No
*Artificial insemination? No
(according to European
Community rules there is
not allowed for a women
to have an artificial
insemination if there is
no a man who gives
the paternity to the
embryon (baby). It is not
known, if this rule is
applied in the praxis in
the many private clinics).
*Immigration rights? No
(The country is not obliged
to recognise acts which are
done in an other country
and they are in contrary
to the laws in this country)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
E) What about homosexual prostitution? Illegal
(men prostitution)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
F) Are there restrictions for HIV+ people to get in the country? No, but it happened
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
G) Any other special things? Please tell us: Important is what kind of
laws exist, but more
important is how the
existing laws are
interpreted and how the
"clever" conservative
majority discriminates
without to do something
against the law.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________